


at the end of the memory

by SuperStellar



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen, JJ is a good boy, everyone is nice to JJ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 03:31:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9473495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperStellar/pseuds/SuperStellar
Summary: protect JJ 2k17





	

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for YoI Kink Meme on Tumblr: Everyone is nice to JJ
> 
> I don't know if this is nice enough for OP but I tried. ;;;

Jean-Jacques Leroy is ready for the World Championship. He wasn’t satisfied with just the bronze he just barely won at the Grand Prix Final, or the silver from Four Continents. He needed to climb his way up to gold at Worlds to prove to himself that he was better than these fears that have been plaguing him.

The pressure he was putting on himself wasn’t helping with that anxiety, though.

He couldn’t keep skating the same way he had been all season, not with Victor returning to the competitive scene and all the other skaters aiming for the gold – the skaters who hate him, who look down on him for his JJ Style, who were laughing at him when he’d failed his short program at the Grand Prix Final, who told him to his face that they thought he’d robbed Otabek of the bronze. He would prove them all wrong.

He’d refined his programs and made them even more technically complex – not that they were simple in the first place. He added a fifth quad. He changed some of his jumps around. His programs were still beautiful and expressive, and he could skate them perfectly when practicing. They had the highest possible technical score out of all the entrants. By all expectations, he should be able to win the gold easily.

But then why was he shaking at the entrance to the locker room?

 

 

Otabek notices JJ first. As changing out of his street clothes, he sees the other skater standing in the doorway as if he’s forgotten how to walk.

“JJ?”

JJ’s head whips to look at Otabek, eyes like a frightened deer.

Otabek makes his way over and places a hand on JJ’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Yuri Plisetsky snorts. “Why are you even bothering with that nuisance, Beka?”

JJ flinches as if he’s been hit.

“Be nice, Yuri.”

“He’s never been nice to me, or to you, or to any of us.”

Otabek pauses. He doesn’t spend a lot of time with the other skaters, but he knows that’s a lie. JJ was the one who welcomed him to Canada. They were rinkmates and trained together. JJ never looked down on him, and even though they’ve drifted apart since he moved back to Almaty, he knows JJ has a good heart.

The other skaters in the room are looking at the trio in anticipation. The room’s tense, and he feels it’s not sympathetic to JJ. How could everyone be so blind to JJ’s good attributes?

“Yuri, you know that’s not true.”

“Like hell it isn’t! All he did during the Grand Prix circuit was be a gigantic dick!”

“Yuri, when I found you, it was JJ that told me where you were.”

 

 

“Otabek! Good afternoon!”

“JJ.” Otabek continued eating his lunch.

“Still a man of few words, eh?”

He grunts. There’s probably a reason JJ’s here.

“You know, I overheard the Yuri Angels talking just now. They’ve tracked down their kitten and are planning on kidnapping him.”

Otabek gives him a nod. He didn’t expect his interest to escape JJ’s notice.

“I also heard that Yuri’s running around on foot. He probably doesn’t have a very good escape route.”

 

 

“You’re telling me that we’re friends because of this asshole?!” Yuri twists his face into a grimace.

“If he didn’t say anything, I probably never would’ve known where to go.”

Yuri’s not ready to accept this and continues fuming. JJ, on the other hand, is now looking at Otabek like an angel come down from heaven.

“Otabek...”

He just leads the other skater to a bench so he can sit down. He doesn’t know how to deal with whatever is going on with JJ, but he knows that standing in the doorway probably doesn't help.

Guanghong walks towards them and stops in front of JJ, looking concerned.

 

 

“Hi!! Welcome to our rink!”

Guanghong’s nervous. It’s his first time in Canada, his first time at this rink, his first time training overseas, his first time without his family for an extended period of time, hi—

“Hey, we’re all friendly here! Don’t look so worried. We don’t bite.”

He looks up to see an older boy with a grin so large, it looks like it’d split his face. He recognizes this boy, though. Someone who claimed all the junior golds in the last season and was aiming to make a spectacular senior debut.

“A-ah, h-hello.” He’s still not confident with his English, either.

“Don’t be shy! I’m Jean-Jacques Leroy! We can train together, I watched all your programs and I can help you with your triple axel!”

It was hard not to get caught up with this exuberant teenager. Guanghong was all of 13 years old and here was the most promising skater of the year offering to teach him. He smiles shyly. “O-okay, let’s practice then.”

JJ grins widely again and leads Guanghong across the rink for introductions.

 

 

“JJ, do you remember when I first showed up at your rink?”

He gets a scared look from JJ, so unlike his initial impression of the Canadian, but so much like what Guanghong imagines he looked like at the time.

“You were so nice to me. You helped me with my skating, even when you were training for your senior debut. You didn’t laugh at my mistakes in English.”

JJ’s expression turns more confused, as if he doesn’t remember this at all.

“I had a great time in Canada that summer, and even though you were so busy every summer afterwards, you always made time to check in with me, in your own way. I really appreciated it.” It’s impulsive, but Guanghong hugs JJ.

It’s then that JJ starts to cry.

 

 

“Seung-gil, are you okay?”

He’s obviously not okay. He’s crying in a corner on the locker room floor because he couldn’t shake off the nerves. Nerves he’s never had before. Nerves that ruined his chance to make it to the final. The last thing he needs is Jean-Jacques Leroy to rub it in his face.

“Leave me alone.”

“I can’t leave a crying person alone! That wouldn't be very nice.” JJ lowers himself next to Seung-gil and wraps an arm around the other skater. “I know how you feel, though.”

“How could you possibly know how I feel? I fucked up my free skate and I fucked up my chance to go to the final.”

JJ laughs hollowly. “I did the same thing for my senior debut in the Grand Prix series. I let my worries get the better of me, and I didn’t medal at any of my assignments. You brought home a silver medal, and that’s impressive.”

Seung-gil grunts into his knees. “I wanted to go to the finals.”

“There’s always next year, yeah? And the year after that. And after that. Hell, Chris is 25, and Victor was what, 27 last year when he won gold, _again_? That’s practically ancient. You have so many years ahead of you.”

Seung-gil’s stopped crying now.

“And you know, they say that you shouldn’t peak too early in figure skating.”

“… thanks.”

 

 

It’s hard not to see the parallels. Seung-gil remembers how JJ had clawed his way to a bronze after his failure of a short program at the final with the surprise quad loop. He may not be good at people, but just by looking around, he can see that none of the other Grand Prix finalists comforted JJ the same way JJ had comforted him. It makes JJ even more impressive, to Seung-gil’s eyes.

With a quick glare to the bystanders, he sits next to JJ and pats him on the head.

JJ looks bewildered, but it has the effect of stopping his tears.

“Otabek is right – you’ve been nice to all of us, in your own way.” He says this louder than necessary, letting it carry through the room.

Seung-gil’s words are barbs aimed at those who still believe the worst of JJ. Everyone starts shuffling, looking guilty, as if they’re suddenly remembering a small thing that JJ did for them when he didn’t have to. When they ignored him. When they brushed him off. As if they truly wanted to believe that JJ was just an arrogant jerk who only cared about himself, someone who needed to be taken down a peg.

Emil breaks the silence first. “JJ was the one who helped me go whitewater canoeing last summer. He knew everyone I had to talk to in Canada and made it so easy. I really appreciated it, and so did my coach! He was so happy that I had a detailed plan!”

Phichit and Chris glance at each other, as if they’re sharing a thought. “JJ… he’s the only other person who always participates in the skater selfie battles with me and Chris.”

“I get mixtapes sometimes.” Leo looks embarrassed. “I never thanked you for them, but I really liked them.”

Michele says, “U-uh, I guess I never worried about him hitting on Sara because he had a fiancée.”

JJ bursts into laughter at Michele’s contribution, and the tension lifts in the room.

 

 

Yuuri enters the locker room late, with Victor beside him. He’s greeted with a confusing sight – Guanghong’s hugging a laughing JJ, Otabek and Seung-gil are smiling fondly at the Canadian, and everyone else just looks relieved. “Did I… miss something?”

“Are you two going to give us a disgustingly gross heartwarming JJ story as well?” Yuri looks extremely uncomfortable.

“I don’t think so? I don’t think we’ve talked much at all…”

Chris laughs at him. “I guess if you forgot about your pole dance, you wouldn’t remember anything after it, either.”

Yuuri freezes. He wanted to forget all about that night, and for everyone else to forget about it, too.

“JJ was the one who made sure you got to your room afterwards.”

It’s as if Yuuri’s view of that night got turned upside-down once again. “That… that certainly explains the unsigned note I had on my bedside table when I woke up. And the bottles of water.”

 

 

Afterwards, when the skating is all finished and the medals have all been awarded and the unbelievably stuffy banquet is over with, everyone goes out for dinner. There is a strict no-shop-talk policy, so they trade stories about their hobbies, their likes, their pets. Someone makes a comment about how dogs are better than cats, and then the seats need to be rearranged so a fight doesn’t break out over which animal is man’s best friend.

Yuuri’s pole dancing is brought up and the pictures come out – even some new ones as people are reminded of that night. And then there’s a challenge issued for another dance-off, since they can’t let the reigning champion be someone who doesn’t even remember that he won. The restaurant reluctantly allows them to use the dance floor.

JJ, for the first time in his senior skating career, feels welcome among his competitors.

**Author's Note:**

> Original prompt:
> 
> Somehow, all the skaters suddenly realize that even though JJ can be annoying af at times, he is actually a really good guy and they’ve all been way too hard on him. So they all decide to start being nice to him and JJ is overwhelmed by the sudden kindness from his fellow skaters and a good time is had by all. (Can be crack or serious, I just really want JJ to be happy and liked by his peers, just once. Please.)
> 
> The prompt was everything I ever wanted in a fic and just didn't know it yet so I mean, be the change you want to see in the world???
> 
> I have the feeling I used someone's idea for JJ being the one who took Yuuri to his hotel room after, but I can't find where I saw it...


End file.
